The present invention relates to a process for coating a water-impermeable surface with a silicone composition to facilitate the removal of frozen water therefrom.
The presence of frozen water, such as ice, snow, sleet and frost, on human-made structures, that are exposed to weather, such as buildings, ships, aircraft, trailers, automobiles, cables, antennae, bridges, wires, signs, storage tanks and traffic signals, is frequently undesirable and/or dangerous. Its prompt removal is often dictated by safety, structural and economic considerations. On the other hand the formation of frozen water onto a substrate is also deliberately caused by humans, such as in the formation of ice pieces, such as blocks, cakes and cylinders. Its removal from the substrate in these instances is necessitated by convenience and/or economic considerations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,981, claims a method for treating certain surfaces with certain aminoalkyl siloxanes, or monocarboxylic acid salts thereof, to facilitate the release of ice therefrom. Although this method is very effective, better release of ice is desired in many instances.
Many of the carboxy-functional siloxane compositions that are used in the method of the present invention have been disclosed in a U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 5949, filed on Jan. 24, 1979 and assigned to the assignee of this invention.
Polyvalent metal salts of carboxy-functional siloxane compositions have been used to render permeable substrates water-repellent as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,227,579.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,362 it is disclosed that certain carboxy-functional siloxane fluids, alone or in combination with a trimethylsiloxy endblocked polydimethylsiloxane fluid, can be applied to metal substrates to improve their release characteristics. It is particularly suggested that the invention has utility in treating metal fuser rolls in duplicating machines; and the release of nylon from a metal substrate is shown. A similar disclosure can be found in U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 491,432 and 491,415 filed on July 24, 1976, copies of said applications having been filed as priority documents with Dutch patent application No. 7506978.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,695 it is disclosed that when certain carboxy-functional siloxane fluids are incorporated in a polyurethane composition used in a reaction injection molding process that better release of the molded part can be achieved.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,047,528 it is disclosed that a composition comprising certain carboxy-functional siloxanes, certain fillers, and a polyvalent metal compound curing agent can be cured, by heating, into an elastomeric or rubbery product useful in forming gaskets, insulating electrical conductors, or encapsulating electrical components. Titanium is disclosed as one of seventeen suitable polyvalent metals, with tetrabutyl titanate being specifically disclosed.